80 G. M. DAWSON ON THE KWAKIOOL 



relative, in amassing blankets preparatory to a struggle for social preeminence, and should 

 the aspirant be beaten, would feel mortified and ashamed. All become miserly and saving, 

 but to no good purpose, and the great gatherings of natives which occur when the pot- 

 latch takes place, lead not only to waste of property and time, but to troubles of many 

 other kinds. 



As a particular instance of the custom, let us suppose that a NTm'-kish, of Alert Bay, 

 has collected together as his own, or obtained control of, say, five hundred blankets, and 

 wishes to make a potlatch to the Fort Rupert tribes. He goes to the Fort Rupert village 

 and makes known his intention of distributing a thousand blankets at a certain date. 

 He begins by lending out his stock of five hundred blankets, giving larger numbers to 

 those who are well off, and particularly to such as are known to have the intention of 

 giving a potlatch in return. This loan is reckoned a debt of honour, to be paid with 

 interest at the proper time. It is usual to return two blankets for every one borrowed, 

 and Indians with liberal ideas may return even more. The greater the number of 

 blankets loaned out to any individual, the more he knows that his wealth and standing 

 are appreciated by the stranger, who, later on, taking with him a thousand or more 

 blankets returns to his home at Alert Bay ; at which place also, in due time, the Fort 

 Rupert people arrive. The potlatch does not, however, then occur at once, as much pre- 

 liminary talk, ceremony, and feasting are in order, and the Nïm'-kish must entertain their 

 visitors — first one and then another volunteering feasts and diversions. It may also, 

 very probably, happen that delay arises because the man about to give the potlatch has 

 not obtained the requisite number of blankets, many being owing to him and others 

 having been promised by friends whom he is obliged to dun. The Fort Rupert people, 

 becoming weary of waiting, lend all the weight of their influence to coerce the debtors 

 into payment, and these may, in the end, be forced to borrow from others to enable them 

 to redeem their pledges — all such arrangements leading to interminable haggling and 

 worry. At length, however, all is ready, and with the accompaniment of much bombastic 

 speech-making and excitement, the mass of blankets is distributed in exact proportion to 

 the social position of those taking part — or, what is the same thing, in proportion to their 

 individual contributions. 



To surpass the man who has last given a potlatch, and acquire a superior standing to 

 his, the next aspirant must endeavour to give away more than a thousand blankets, and 

 will strive as soon as possible to be in a position to do so. 



The nominal excuses for giving a potlatch are numerous, the most common being, 

 however, the wish to assume a new and more honourable name. The name proposed to 

 be taken passes by common consent, if the potlatch shall have been successful and on a 

 sufficient scale. 



Should an Indian wish to humiliate another for any reason, he may destroy a great 

 number of blankets or much other valued property. This, according to custom, lea\^es 

 his adversary in debt to the amount of the property made away with. It then behoves 

 the debtor to bring out and destroy a like or if possible a greater amount of property. If 

 he is not able to do this, he lies iiuder the reproach of having been worsted by his foe. 



The present principal chief of the Fort Rupert people is now known, since his pot- 

 latch last completed (autumn of 1885), as Na-ka-pun-thim, and aspires to, and well 

 maintains, the position of premier chief of the Kwakiool people. He is apparently a man 



